Former President Joe Biden resurfaced Friday night with a heckle for the current resident of the White House that landed fast and hard.
“Is he still talking?” Biden asked, mocking President Donald Trump’s marathon State of the Union address.
Trump’s speech Tuesday night stretched to one hour and 47 minutes—the longest State of the Union address yet, beating his own record from last year.
But Biden’s sharpest criticism wasn’t about the runtime; it was about what Trump didn’t mention in his marathon speech.
Trump delivered his address on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a milestone Biden argued went completely unacknowledged.
“It’s unbelievable—the guy talks for almost two hours—but never mentions the anniversary of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin invading Ukraine,” he said.
Biden then ticked through what he described as other glaring omissions from Tuesday night’s address.
“He doesn’t mention Renee Good or Alex [Pretti], who were killed in Minnesota by ICE, or offer even a word of solace to their families.”
He also faulted Trump for failing to acknowledge victims of Jeffrey Epstein who were seated in the chamber.
“He doesn’t offer a word of support for Epstein’s victims sitting in front of him the entire time. He never acknowledged them.”
Biden delivered the remarks in Columbia, South Carolina, where Democratic party leaders and donors were marking six years since his pivotal 2020 primary victory.
After ticking through the omissions, Biden pivoted to where he argued Trump has done the most damage: the economy.
“We brought the country back from the abyss,” he told the crowd.
Biden pointed to more than 16 million jobs created during his presidency and what he described as the lowest average unemployment rate in 50 years.
“Do you know how many jobs Trump’s created in his first year as president? 185,000 jobs. Total. That’s it,” he said.
He then reached for a historical comparison.
“Trump’s the only president, other than Herbert Hoover, [who] had fewer jobs when he left office than when he took office.”
The remarks are among Biden’s most pointed since leaving office last year, and amount to a direct rebuke of Trump’s State of the Union address.
Trump used Tuesday night’s speech to tout what he described as economic momentum and an aggressive immigration crackdown, arguing he inherited border chaos and financial instability from his predecessor.
Biden rejected that narrative, insisting the economy he left behind was not broken but booming.
“On the day I left office, I handed Trump the strongest economy in the world. In the world—that’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact."
And unlike Trump’s 1 hour and 47 minute speech, Biden needed only a few minutes to make his case.
